Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
It’s not the age of this franchise, it’s the mileage.
Harrison Ford isn't too old for this stuff yet in James Mangold's Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
After decades of chasing down precious objects and sticking them in museums, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) has himself become a relic. Instead of a museum, though, the powers that be at New York’s Hunter College are forcing him to retire. There are no more co-eds with love notes scrawled on their eyes and no more family for him to go home to.
Luckily for Indy, before he has to think too much about gathering dust alone in a cramped apartment, Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) shows up with a request. Helena is the child of one of Indy’s late friends and is seeking out the last known location of the Archimedes Dial. Now a con artist and rather bitter about her father’s obsession with the dial, Helena hopes to turn a quick profit instead of putting the dial in a museum. Indy, however, is worried about what the dial could do if unleashed on the world.
Also seeking the dial is Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), a former Nazi physicist whose past was swept under the rug by the USA in favor of winning the Space Race. Now that he’s helped put a man on the moon, Voller is an American hero and privy to the money and resources he needs to obtain the dial for himself. He’s even got the CIA to help him out.
Stuck between a crook and a Nazi, Indy must don his hat and crack his whip one last time, in the name of truth, justice, and archeology.
The first Indiana Jones film not directed by Steven Spielberg, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is very aware of its lineage. Director James Mangold knows that he’s expected “to play the hits” and he delivers. We’ve got Nazi punching, frenetic vehicle chases through exotic locales, a likable sidekick, and even alums from past movies. Dial of Destiny plays like a greatest hits album — all the things you love, and nothing new.
It’s certainly a step in the right direction. After Spielberg’s last entry, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, flopped critically (and inspired one hell of a South Park episode) with its ham-fisted Cold War and Sci-Fi storyline, it feels extremely safe to make Indy’s foes Nazis yet again. The movie is also very quick and possibly a bit callous in assuring us that nothing which happened in Crystal Skull is really relevant to this movie. It’s best to forget Mutt Williams existed because this movie would certainly like to erase that from history.
It is interesting that a movie so packed with references to things past couldn’t really use its alumni characters to their best advantage. My personal favorite of Indy’s allies, Sallah (John Rhys-Davies), gets told he’s too old and is left behind. Mangold clearly references Short Round with Helena’s young compatriot Teddy (Ethan Isidore), but it would have been nice to actually see Ke Huy Quan and let him join in the adventure. The internet can be a frightening place, but it’s not wrong in pushing that Short Round is the obvious and thematically best successor to Indy’s legacy. Instead, Mangold shoves Helena into the plot with a sort of hand-wavy backstory that she’s Indy’s god-niece and was extremely close to him though she’s never once mentioned in any of the previous films. It’s the plot equivalent of a shrug emoji.
Still, at least no one is participating in a car chase by swinging on vines with monkeys…
And while Mangold’s use of CGI arguably works better here, it’s still a bit distracting. WWII de-aged Indy looks great…until he moves. As the action progresses he becomes an uncanny horror. But in spite of the not-quite-there technology, the WWII sequence is one of the stronger bits of the movie. It feels like an Indiana Jones adventure — the wisecracks, the cartoonish improvised plan, and even the antics aboard a speeding train all feel like they could fit into one of the three original films.
The real anchor around this film’s neck is a third-act event that is so silly it beggars belief. In a movie that’s 2.5 hours long, we could have saved a good 15 minutes and just rolled credits before this nonsense happened. The whole thing is made worse by Ford and Waller-Bridge, who play the scenes like it’s a heart-rending drama when it is Magic School Bus levels of goofy. Actually, Ms. Frizzle probably would have handled it better.
But even with a belly-flop of an ending, the movie does get it mostly right.
Though Waller-Bridge is fighting a terribly-written backstory, she’s game and sassy. Helena is clearly a successor to Marion, the kind of adventurer who can drink the boys under the table and fight her way out of a tight spot. Mikkelsen is saddled with the role of a Nazi who’s so evil he’s obsessed with all the mistakes the Third Reich made during the war. Still, he manages to bring an interesting quirk and steely menace to a role straight out of central casting.
The real reason anyone’s buying a ticket, however, is Ford. And as Indy, Ford may have aged, but he’s still got the gruff wiseass persona to carry the movie. This Indy may have creaky knees and a shuffling run, but his mind hasn’t lost a step. Ford is still game to push open graves and sass the baddies with plenty of aplomb.
If you’re a fan of the original trilogy, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny will be a crowd-pleaser. There’s plenty of nostalgic glee to be had in Mangold’s light adventure film. If you’re a stickler for a coherent plot, the last act is going to annoy you, but try not to think about it too much. This is not a movie that saves the franchise, but Mangold and his team have made good progress in bailing out the ship.
Verdict: A light crowd-pleaser of a movie, this is a better way to say goodbye to Ford’s signature role than that horrendous alien adventure.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is rated PG-13 and available in theaters June 30.
